Actor-politician Vijay demands abolition of NEET, education to be included in state list

Actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay speaks at a special function he hosted on Wednesday, July 3, in Chennai to honour the students who scored the best in the recently held Class 10 and 12 board exams | Photo Credit: @TheRoute/X

Days after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution urging the Union government to scrap the controversial medical entrance exam, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay criticised the NEET exams and urged the education and sanitation departments to be reinstated in the state list from the concurrent list.

Vijay made this statement on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 while addressing the second leg of TVK's special meet to honour the students who scored the best in the recently held Class 10 and 12 examinations. The event was held at Ramachandra Convention Centre in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.

Talking about the effects of NEET exam on students from poor, economically backward and oppressed classes, Vijay said he sees three problems in the implementation of NEET. First, it goes against the rights of a state government. Before 1975, education was under the state list and then the Union government moved it to the concurrent list. I think that is where the problem started.

Vijay then said that the education policy of one nation, one syllabus and one examination was against the primary objective of education as syllabi should be reshaped according to states.

I am not asking this just so that the state government gets its rights back, but so that the education system encourages students to look at things from different perspectives. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness, Vijay said, while questioning the fairness of evaluating a student trained under the state board syllabus on the NCERT syllabus. Imagine the plight of a student who comes from a village and aspires to become a doctor.

Vijay said that the cancellation of the NEET exams scheduled in a haphazard manner has created a general distrust among the people. What we can conclude from this news is that we do not need the NEET exams anymore. Ultimately, as a solution to these problems, Vijay demanded that the NEET exams be scrapped and that he welcomed the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. I request the Union government to respect the sentiments of Tamil Nadu and resolve this issue expeditiously.

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Demanding that education be reinstated in the state list, Vijay said that if there are any problems with it, an amendment to the Constitution should be adopted as an interim solution to create a special concurrent list for education and sanitation. The problem with the concurrent list is that even though the state governments have authority over the departments listed in it, these departments are still controlled by the Union government. So my demand is to give complete freedom to the state governments in running these departments.

Perhaps if need be, the Union government could conduct NEET only for institutions like PGI and AIIMS that are under its control. See, these are just my suggestions. I am well aware that there will be no quick progress in this area, and even if there is a change, there will be many forces that will ensure that it does not happen, Vijay said as a final note before urging students to consider education as a celebration. Don't stress yourself. The world is big and there is no dearth of opportunities for us.

It is noteworthy that on Friday, June 28, as widespread irregularities in NEET highlighted Tamil Nadu's staunch opposition to the exam, the state legislative assembly passed a resolution urging the Union government to immediately assent to the TN NEET exemption bill and make necessary amendments to the National Medical Commission Act to abolish NEET at the national level.